PIDDLETRENTHIDE SPARTANS 2 CHICKERELL UNITED 4

STEVE Welch’s second-half hat-trick ensured Chickerell United saw off Piddletrenhide Spartans and maintained pressure on league leaders Balti House.

Welch was thrust into a more attacking role with the Chickens’ trailing 2-1 in the second half, and notched three goals to seal United’s fifth league win of the campaign.

This came after Warren White had initially put the visitors in front with a superb strike in the opening period before Piddletren-thide hit back.

Chickens’ chief Steve Coward told Echosport: “They were a good side and they put us under a lot of pressure, so it was pleasing to get a result.

“They have some very good players, we didn’t play to our best but we got the result in the end.”

Coward also commented on the overall spectrum of the league so far, and believes that the current league leaders will be the team to beat in the long run.

He added: “Balti have a tough month ahead of them, if they get the results from some of the teams they have to play then we will worry about it then.

“We just have to focus on our own games, keep going, and get three points every time we go out there.”

Coward was also keen to praise Chucky Taylor who stepped up from the club’s reserve side, he came on after Josh Why sustained a nasty cut to the head, which required stitches.

Chickens: Boore, Charles, Burton, S Welch, Newnham, Miles, Churchill, Jarvis, Rawlings, White, Why (C Taylor 50).

HOLT UNITED 1 DORCHESTER SPORTS 2

DORCHESTER Sports stunned hosts Holt by coming back from a goal down at half-time to claim a fine away win.

Sports named an unchanged side from the team that beat Portland the previous weekend, and they also included Karl Hicks on the bench.

Going up the hill in the first half, Sports played with real width and looked to get Ben Mackie and Alex Travers in behind the Bulls’ defence.

At the other end, a long ball caught out the visitors and, des-pite keeper Anthony Luque making a quality save, the Holt striker pounced on the rebound to tap home.

The Sports’ defence stayed strong with Cormack Lochrie and Carl Tewkesbury putting in another top performance.

Sensing they could still get something out of the match going into the second period, the Sports’ midfield of Lewis Amor and Jason Reid controlled the game effectively.

With 55 minutes gone, Mackie picked up the ball, cut inside and curled his right-foot shot into the top corner.

There only seemed one winner at this point as Sports brought on TJ McFarlane and Danny McHale to add more pace up front.

And the winner arrived on 75 minutes when a Tom Godfrey corner wasn’t dealt with.

Tewkesbury kept the ball alive and skipper Carl Hopkins found the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Holt pressed for an equaliser but Sports held firm to secure a superb result.

Sports’ boss Ashley James said: “This was by far our best performance of the season to date.”

Sports: Luque, Burt, Hopkins, Read, Lochrie, Tewkesbury, Travers (McHale), Amor (McFarlane), Mackie, Godfrey, Yates (Hicks)